caught in the crossfire kurds living in northern syria face a deadly onslaught from extremists ready to wipe them off the face of the earth to make way for a breakaway islamic state. brok obama accuses russia of reverting to a cold war mentality while moscow declares old hostilities dead and buried we report on the latest chill in relations triggered by the snowden dispute. last candidates for the post of moscow mayor take the earth skirmish to the media arena as we reported on the campaign promises of the main rivals.

this is already coming to you live from moscow marina joshua welcome to the program now the leader of a rocky kurdistan is said that his forces could intervene to protect fellow kurds in neighboring syria are facing a daily onslaught from hottest militants the al qaida linked factions which initially flooded into syria to fight against the government there are now seeking to set up an islamist state in the country's northeast are reports on the plight of the kurds. we've been speaking to eyewitnesses relatives and also kurdish journalists and from the sequence of events that we've been able to piece together that coming nineteenth of july you had an assault by islamist extremists at that stage they placed a bomb in a local kurdish school also rounded up and abducted a number of civilians the very next day and number of kurdish houses in various kurdish enclave were blown up it was also an entire kurdish village that was

destroyed and some five hundred people were kidnapped that violence continued into early all this when you had the reported killing of at least some seventy kurds and the abduction of another three hundred and fifty now this week we saw a massacre in which some four hundred and fifty could were killed from the figures we've been receiving seven hundred twenty of them were children some three hundred and fifty of them were women that massacre happening in a syrian town on the turkish border not neither damascus nor the opposition has actually confirmed that massacre but we have been speaking to eyewitnesses and this is what they told us back in recently that they came into villages and started to blame the locals have been faithless it was during ramadan they open fire on villagers people came onto the streets men women and children they fired at everyone who came in the way they captured many young men and began to cut them with knives we told them that we were muslims too but they said that they would

continue to kill us they also said that our grant to them all or money or property or women or maybe even tomorrow everyone around my nephew was killed. when civilians escaped their shot militias raided their house and blew up some of them and robbed others the conditions are very bad people are in fear and terrorized fighters are out of control there raiding the streets there's no media coverage and anyone who tries to reach out. it's being kidnapped by the militants and one of the problems we face is that some reports are difficult to verify as you heard there from kurds we've been speaking to they say that if they come forward and they report on any of the actions kidnappings and killings they themselves run the risk of being looted so they want to have is there's a cd out of the language that is being carried out by the islamist fighters this is resulting in the spread of this information you have the scarcity of sources this

too is leading to just skip and seize in the reports that are making it into the international media and then of course you have videos that are being posted online that are sometimes difficult to independently verify there was one video that was posted that the porter to show the killing of kurds it said that they were burned to death later this turned out to be foals now we could simms solves the say that the attacks are being carried out by islamic fighters that are linked to al qaida you have as one of these groups the all nusra front and this is an organization that is pledged to establish an islamic state in northern syria this is precisely the area where these kurds are living so this is why although for some time you've had the kurds on the periphery of the conflict increasingly we've seen them in the line of fire always spoke to damascus based political philosophy professor georges your boer who believes that the kurds in syria are strong enough to defend themselves. you heard this. is the situation

between the kurds was quote voted and of course we could substitute it in dismantling the. subject to the. seventy's you. know i see this. the kurds in syria constitute some sort of a force of their own syria. it could be elected to us in the region. and the. extent do you. put it to says you know are there to the issues well turkey has found itself trying to balance two seemingly contradictory roles backing the syrian rebels while at the same time trying to mandates the story to a hostile relations with the kurds on r.t.

dot com journalist and filmmaker patrick harrington puts ankara's dilemma under scrutiny or his articles online right now. is the cold war truly dead and buried it seems that something moscow and washington can't quite agree on russia says recent tensions are just a temporary glitch but senior u.s. figures including president obama are calling for relations to be paused and reassessed it's widely believed that the catalyst for it all was russia's decision to grant temporary asylum to whistleblower edward snowden are just going to has the details remember the meeting between russian and u.s.

officials at the state department comes days after president obama canceled the bilateral summit with the russian president in september more and more often we hear about a new cold war between moscow and washington so everyone was listening very closely to what officials on both sides were saying and we heard two different messages coming from president obama and foreign minister lavrov they remember very well what you said when we were saying goodbye he said well i believe that we can make a difference in the rest of the of the lessons let's. get as adults and that's what we're trying to do because if you for. small incidents. become an impediment through everything goes. i think it would be that would be very wrong who thinks they're bogus president obama in the meantime did the opposite he has basically hyped up the cold war talk

when president putin who was prime minister when medvedev was president came back into power i think we saw more rhetoric on the russian side that was anti-american that. played into some of the old stereotypes about the cold war contest between the united states and russia and i've encouraged mr putin to. think forward as opposed to back on those issues with mixed success president obama also said in light of all the disagreements with russia mentioning syria and snowden it's time to make appalls and to recalibrate the tone of the talks at the state department at least the opening part that we have seen that was different there was an agreement on both sides that they should not lead disagreements and scandals completely overshadow whatever progress the two countries can actually make one area where the two countries can make

a difference is the crisis in syria both state the objective the same objective that they want to political solution that they want to bring all sides of the syrian conflict together in geneva to try and map out such a political solution the syrian opposition says they are not going to sit down a one table with those who have blood on their hands moscow says in order to stop the bloodshed all hands need to come to the negotiating table and foreign minister lavrov this friday he said that secretary kerry assured him that the opposition will be there at that negotiating table so there were some very serious issues on the agenda like syria like missile defense in europe where russia and the u.s. obviously don't see eye to eye but making progress on any of those topics becomes that much harder when the relations are defined by scandals and today we heard foreign minister lavrov trying very hard to ease the tension to move away from the cold war talk but president obama's remarks seem to have exacerbated the tension. international relations experts here inside of you told r.t.

how she views the latest spat she thinks the united states is letting anger cloud its judgment the u.s. administration simply cannot afford to exclude russia from important talks on very important issues. before snowden happens a couple months ago those issues were very much to do with syria and some foreign policy issues as well as some economic issues that the u.s. and russia have in common it just seems that this particular snowden affair has unleashed a level of anger in the u.s. government that has that is preventing them from actually doing what they do very well which is to manage foreign policy manage crises to do that i think it's actually. a very unique and rarely seen sign of weakness. while some alice double bombers reaction is over the top it's quite mild compared

to what some u.s. lawmakers want from sanctions to an olympic boycott senators and congressmen demand russia's punished for daring to give snowden asylum and you can tell us what you think this crisis bodes for russia on our web site r t dot com all of this point you can take a look at how some of you who participated now we're online poll voted so as you see almost three quarters of you believe very little will change as relations are too poor already to be affected much well about twenty two percent believe that the economic ties are too important and will weather this crisis and just a few about four percent believe this no the matter will blow over and that relations aren't all that bad and they will last which is which is two percent of this point thing that russia will be made to suffer for giving safe haven to edward snowden while there was no what do you think a biological entity dot com. now at the same news conference where

president obama mentioned the strains with moscow he promised to reform the much maligned n.s.a. surveillance program more transparency and supervision are on the cards he said but it gave no indication that mass surveillance will be scaled back investigative reporter dave lindorff told us the president's just trying to calm public anger. first of all we destroy press conferences totally for u.s. consumption and secondly. we have now seen five years of this where he says one thing and does another. you know each he is not going to cut back on the n.s.a. spying that's clear or. he he could just order it to cut back he in the past had expressed great concern about the n.s.a. program and yet he's expanded on his watch for five years so i don't see it being cut back east been going after whistleblowers in the most fierce way that anyone

can recall and so the media uses it for that so what they're trying to do is to camp down a growing concern about all the spying among americans the polls keep rising with the number of people who are saying that there is too much spying that the war on terror has overstepped on civil liberties while just a half way here on our team the concept of pick your own goes a step further and the fast food culture takes a bite out of quality meals we report from one farm where you can check on your chops while the atom although it is still alive. one of the world's biggest a flat advance kicks off and moscow for the first time almost two thousand athletes are set to compete amid the gay propaganda law hot of earthsea overshadowing the upcoming winter olympics. and the wasted holidays british

tourists and controllable drinking habits are causing had aches for u.k. and this is around the world that story is coming up in just a few minutes. zachary what happened that day i don't know but a woman got killed. here's lakers when i got arrested for. for a crime i had to. we have numerous cases where police officers lie about polygraph results. innocent people to confess to police officers don't beat people anymore i mean it just doesn't happen really. in the course of interrogation why because there's been this is like meant no because the psychological techniques are more effective in obtaining confessions than physical abuse and they were often they could get what they wanted they can say what they wanted and there was no evidence of what they did or what they said.

welcome back you're watching r.t. i hated race to become moscow's new mayor is in full throttle with the main adversaries now officially exchanging political blows in the media battlefield and with less than a month left before polling day campaigning has already seen its share of scandals artie's and he's now he takes a closer look at the frontrunners. and they're off the last leg of the campaign has

officially begun in the first election for moscow's mayor in ten years there are six candidates over seven million registered voters and a lot of promises being made it's not easy to please a city of an estimated fourteen million people there are major problems huge projects and the seemingly never ending fight against corruption incumbent serviceably on and his team in office for two years are confident the city's streets speak for themselves. so ben and completely change the city is prorated have been public space fighting traffic development of public transportation and to take medicine and education to new levels of development and his plan is to continue that work if he's elected but also running is anticorruption blogger and opposition leader alexei numbered me recently wrapped up in a fraud scandal arrested and then released his campaign volunteers are promising a new moscow. have you ever been to paris that's what we want boulevards green

everywhere look here for two months they've been putting down tiles bike paths our plans for traffic will be like the rest of the world not like some banyan. although a staunch critic of the government not buying these platforms so far sounds a lot like sub guidance it's a liberal program you know it's a program geared for the reach for the reach young and active you know so that they would be able to survive in the cd so what about those who are old poor and need support but a state media is focused on sit down and opposition media with some help from the west and pro mangold's is promotion of all of the so the core mission of the socialists are sidelined but i think they were kind of this format shape you i mean you go you know a scientist and. also i think that asian man a scientist of the socialist kind of i think their program was more humane either

way the vote is expected to draw tremendous turnout that's media coverage and possibly even controversy and he's now a r t. well we have plenty more stories online for you clearing a barge from boarding. a prominent bahraini activists is prevented from taking her flight home apparently do then order from unama online we'll look at whether the gulf kingdom is tightening the screws ahead of planned mass protest. plus. in our invasion section we've spectacular photo galleries including this one people in japan and abroad marking the sixty eighth anniversary of the hiroshima atomic bomb you'll find many other world events capture there at r.t. dot com. well it's one of the biggest events on the sporting calendar only beaten by the football world cup and the olympics the world of flooded championships kicking off and moscow for the

first time artisans in france joins us now live for more ireland he will tell us more about this huge sporting event. liberator what's interesting here is that it's the first time it's been held in russia a country known for its very cold weather and here we've got spectacular sunshine add to bluebird skies to greet the athletes on their first day of competitions now it's the first world athletics championships it's actually been held out of doors like here at luzhniki stadium right behind me nearly two thousand athletes setting a record of participants this time around people from two hundred six countries including the fastest man on earth you say bolt forty seven sets of medals are set to be handed out the official opening ceremony starts up at nine pm up president putin of course will be on hand as will the president of the international olympic

committee and the president of the i.a.e.a. of course now this lasts until august eighteenth so there's plenty of time for everyone to if you're in moscow if you're lucky enough to be here to come out and check it out. but also check it out on television you see how much hard work goes in to. sports that don't a lot of times get a lot of media attention these athletes are here fighting it out and it's really it's really a thing to see so if you possibly can tune in and see these athletes show their stuff it's really an amazing thing to watch as it kicks off here in moscow oh totally agree with you and the sporting events in general are great fun however lindsey there's a shadow of its hanging over another sporting event that's to be held in sochi this winter olympics and it also more about that. well the recent to piece of legislation that was passed by the russian government that it effectively bans any sort of promotion of homosexuality to juveniles has really cast

a cloud over advents pertaining to the olympics russia does have a very vibrant gay community here however people especially those who do not live here look at this legislation and frankly protested against it and a lot of times even some political figures and figures within pop culture have wanted people and certain countries to boycott the olympics however that does not look like at this point it's in anyone's plans however it is a topic that is going to be part of the discussion leading up to and probably even through the olympics as it goes forward there are other countries of course in this world that had very very harsh anti-gay stances within their out when they're in their societies and this piece of legislation that bans the promotion of that to juveniles is is something that has really especially with westerners a tough to a pill to swallow so the conversation is ongoing people from both sides are weighing in and it is definitely something that has sort of taken control of the

olympics dialogue here in russia and it'll be a thing to watch as it as it moves forward. indeed listen thanks so much for bringing us the. datelines of friends reporting from the center of moscow. now having fun and relaxing is what holidays are all about but it seems some brits just don't know when they've had enough of a good thing british tourists are among the most in tory's drinkers around the world and as sarah first explains they seem to think nothing can stop them. you say you pull the ticket on your finally on your holidays and say the very last thing you want to have happen is to get into trouble for doing it nineteen thousand people so consular assistance last year according to the latest figures by the foreign and commonwealth office into british behavior broad there has been a rise in some countries of most serious crimes and that's cool thing concerned in

particular the statistics around rape and sexual assaults are up by ten percent now in the countries that have been pinpointed as a particular areas of concern especially in turkey and boys of all countries popular with young holidaymakers all countries are announced for their very busy night life now it has to be said the brits do tend to have a bit of a reputation of course and out the whole continues to be a major factor in many of the problems that we are as a nation quiet. approach especially for you you often see brits completely drunk how their head. yes alcohol was the biggest thanks to foreign income most of says nineteen thousand people so consular assistant thing a lot of that is going to be youngsters getting drunk a lot of it a lot of it to me and so the foreign and commonwealth office reminding travelers once again to keep safe. well today's is not a problem to make

a quick bite if you have a lot on your plate just warm your food in a microwave by for some that approach is simply not good enough they want to know exactly what they are tucking into are just beer over met one german farmer who has found a way to satisfy even the most picky appetites. europeans want to know exactly where their food is coming from this year we've seen the scandal of horsemeat being passed off as beef in ready meals and the genetically modified crop giant monsanto decide that there isn't a market for them in you. all of this is given one pig farmer an idea how to assure customers that his product is the best it can be and. it's important for people to see the environment where that it will take an animal has grown up they get to see them in a field surrounded by grass not in some unhumane pigsty. buying from burned is a little different from going to your local organic butcher customers pick their

pick from photos online and then through a web cam they can watch the animals grow when you get back and then several months later they receive their requested but. the idea behind this belongs to a student from berlin called denis bookman his philosophy was that people should any fewer but better quality products he wanted to increase food awareness and make it known how meat is produced with famous chefs politicians and stars of music in sport queuing up the bones products. called his son with a whole pig going for around four hundred fifty euro for. the transport and their policy on customers like to have transparency in the production process people want to know where their meat comes from where we're looking to fill that niche. these days more and more people are concerned where their food has come from but for some just because you like pork chops doesn't mean you want to come face to

face with the pig. that you wouldn't like it would be counter to tell you i'm sorry because it could be. oh yeah it tastes great but i'm not sure i would have liked to see it when it was a lie many though seem happy enough to watch. did it grow from a free range piglets to wait to see. that. he get to see where the biggest comes from how to grow up and live ultimately because he is the product i've got no problem. with the pigs are grouped in a natural habitat with the kind people are just teasing better to us what you know what you're eating in light of the recent scandal that is important to me just because most diners would say they didn't want farm animals breed in healthy conditions before they get to the but whether you want a closer relationship with what's to him your sausages or chops is reason a matter of taste he told of

a german. well next abby martin probes that murky waters of american government snooping don't go away. everyone respects a promise written in stone promises written on the internet well they're a bit more flexible and a lot easier to erase obama made a lot of promises as a candidate on his site change dot gov including some about protecting whistleblowers and obama said that we need to empower federal employees as watchdogs and that he would strengthen whistleblower laws to protect federal workers works both waste fraud and abuse of authority and government but strangely and possibly coincidentally two days after the first revelation of government

spying by stoughton these promises of the change dot gov site were taken down if this is not just some odd coincidence and they consciously chose to hide obama's campaign promises that this is political cowardice at its worst and what is even worse is that they didn't think that this would get exposed almost immediately if you try to conduct some sort of medieval. burning to destroy information on the internet then you are only going to get burnt yourself but that's just my opinion. to live on one hundred thirty three bucks a month for food i should try it because you know how fabulous bad luck i got so many i mean camera and sat down i believe that i'm seeing the same thing really messed up. in the old story so closely. the. worst cure for going through the white house of a. radio guy for a minute from

a click. what clothes were about to give you never seen anything like this until. the tough guys i'm abby martin and this is breaking the sat well it's been really encouraging to see how much the show is making waves across the country and was especially excited to get a plug for it on glenn beck's labor conservative news cycle the blades printed the article itself is a full blown characters as a nation of a guest i recently had on the show actor and director sean stone see stone is openly critical of israeli and u.s. government policies that keep the world in perpetual state of war but the glenn beck group that are right for the blaze seem to think that's all crazy talk however all the article does is outline stones of words which frankly are.